Smart Home Blog

Mirror Media Ltd offers a cool device which contains mirror, TV and PC in one - MirrorMedia. It’s available four models with different diagonal - 20′, 26′, 30′ and 32′ and different PC configuration. The 20′ model features Intel Pentium Mobile 500MHz,
256MB SDRAM, HDD 60GB 2.5” 4500rpm, AGP Video S3 Mobile Savage with 8MB SGRAM 2/3D accelerator, Yamaha YMF724F – Creative Labs SB 128 Compatible, Line out, Line in, MIC, SPDIF, LAN 10/100 on board, Wireless LAN option, USB 2 x USB 2.0. To communicate with TV-PC you can use wireless IR keyboard & mouse. The keyboard includes built in track ball. MirrorMedia TV-PC works under Microsoft Windows XP Pro. The bigger models have faster processor and HDD, more RAM and HDD capacity.

In my mind it’d be much useful to add touchscreen functionality. In that case that computerized TV mirror can be used as control panel for your home automation system. In current implementation is just an expensive (I suspect its price won’t be cheap) toy. Nothing more.

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SysMaster used embedded Linux to create a four-line IP video phone with built-in PBX and audio/video playback capabilities. Tornado M20 appears to be based on a very similar hardware platform with M10 - STB with amazing features and functionality. The M20 connects to local networks via wired or WiFi interfaces. it supports standard SIP-based VoIP registrars, proxies, or outbound proxy servers.

For comfort work with M20 it sports 3.5-inch color LCD display, along with a telephone keypad and handset. It can be connected to the TV via analog RCA video and stereo audio ports.

The M20 is already available with a suggested retail price of $260.

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The HomeRemote started shipping Wireless Home Automation System. It’s actually a gate to your Z-Wave home devices from the outside world. It’s connected to your home broadband network router and acts as the central management system for your home or office. You can schedule your lights to turn on and off at a specific time, setup events alerts to your cell phone or Email or control an entire group of devices with the touch of a single button all from the Gateway’s user-friendly interface.

There are many Z-Wave accessories currently available in the market: thermostats, automatic window shades, plug in lighting modules, light switches, electrical appliance modules, motion detectors and much more. In addition, after Zensys announced its new Z/IP program to drive convergence of Z-Wave and TCP/IP, it seems Z-Wave is going to be dominate wireless technology for home automation. Unfortunately, there are no any words about integration with existing home automation systems.

The HomeRemote Wireless Home Automation System is tagged at $229.

[via Engadget]

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Here is a good example of modern Set-Top-Box (STB) which is usually used to bring IPTV to your home. Ordinary STB can just receive TV stream via LAN, decode it and display it on TV. The Tornado M10 Digital Media Center does the same but additionally it allows following:

• Digital music and Internet radio delivery
• VoIP SIP phone with peer auto discovery (devices on same LAN can talk directly without a gateway)
• MPEG4 video and MP3 audio compression
• Video conference H.263 support
• Media extension center functionality (access PC on TV screen, scan PCs for media files)
• Enhanced voicemail system with unified messaging (up to 80 messages can be retrieved via phone or web)
• Online chat and email clients (ICQ, AIM, MSN chat while watching TV)
• News and weather reports delivery

The M10 has a built-in mic and speakers, and can function as a speakerphone. With an SD memory card or optional hard disk connected to its USB port, it can record scheduled programs or pause live TV, according to the company. Additionally, the M10’s USB port supports X10 devices. So, you may control(?) your home X10-based appliance.
The Tornado M10 Digital Media Center is based on modern Linux kernel - 2.6.19. It support a range of voice and video decoders and/or codecs, including MPEG4/SP, MP3, G.711 (A-law and Mu-law), G.726 (16/24/32/40 kbps), and G.729. Supported data networking protocols include IPv4 (upgradeable to IPv6), ARP, DNS, DHCP, ICMP, TCP UDP, RTP, DiffServ, and SNTP.

Tornado M10 Digital Media Center is available immediately, with suggested retail pricing of $170, or $200 with WiFi. Probably, this STB may replace your PC

[via LinuxDevices]

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Sometimes you have to take it with you, and that’s when the Sahara i400 by TabletKiosk makes its move. Unlike a laptop or even a standard PC, a tablet PC isn’t meant for traditional PC applications like Web surfing, but it’s ideal for going from room to room and running applications like a home theater or even your lights, heating, and A/C.

There’s no keyboard; either a touchscreen or pressure-sensitive digitizer stands in. The i400 has a 12.1-inch XGA screen and a 179-degree viewing angle. It’s just under an inch thick and weighs in at 3.3 pounds. Other extras include Intel® Celeron® M ULV 423, 512MB DDR2 RAM, 60GB SATA Hard Disk Drive, Built-in Wireless a/b/g Networking, Bluetooth, a fingerprint reader, two USB ports, a PCMCIA slot.
Sahara supports both Microsoft® Windows® XP Pro and openSUSE Linux. The price starts from $1700.00. Additionally, you can buy a bunch of accessories for Sahara to put it on the wall, for example.
We’re going to buy one Sahara to test it as stationary Plutohome Orbiter. So, I hope the feedback will be posted soon.

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